I have heard this question many times, without any definite answer. When you prepare a survey for your dissertation, can you have additional questions (open ended comments on your topic) that you might not use for your dissertation, but will continue exploring after your dissertation? Would not that help a fresh PhD to continue building a research agenda? Is it unethical to have such additional questions?

I was the first in my family to obtain a master's degree, and I feel I'm missing some important tacit knowledge about academia. I'm interested in pursuing a PhD in information science, or maybe communications. How do I go about choosing a doctoral program?